@Panicmode1 many thanks for setting up this continuing thread.
@Ironoaks congratulations to your DS on getting a third year prize for his exams. He's doing really well and I hope his internship in Switzerland goes very well.
@ofteninaspin how lovely that your DS has now graduated! So many changes and transitions!
@beeswain good luck to your DS with his internship and I expect you'll still see quite a bit of him over the summer if you're fairly close by.
DS1 (C)'s "Graduation" at Cambridge was a brilliant event, despite the lack of actually having a degree or any exams marked and no sign of this changing in the near future, sadly, either. We paid in advance for a buffet lunch, although not that good quality (think tiny dried up and curling sandwiches of indeterminate fillings) but it didn't matter at all and met some of DS1's lovely friends, got photos with the college principal, the choir master, who's also a Praelector of the college and spoke to DS1's first year DoS, who's currently on sabbatical but came to the event.
DS2 and I had an almost 2 hour wait in a long queue for Senate House (I should never have worn the new shoes!) and finally got in to witness DS1 kneeling before the college principal, who then fluffed his lines completely and had to re-read them, not just for DS1 but for several of the other students! This all added to the sense of the event which was a surreal combination of the sublime (wonderful old traditions and fantastic sense of pride in DS1) to the ridiculous (as above), especially because the ceremony was really just an elaborate way for the principal to say well done on getting through 3 years at Cambridge, rather than to confer any kind of degree.
What mattered most was knowing DS1 has made the absolute best of his time at Cambridge and I couldn't be more proud of him. Later that evening, we went out for a nice meal and then the following day, picked DS1 up for the last time, from his college.
It's great having DS1 and DS2 back home and looks like they'll be here for another year or so now, pursuing their career paths and further qualifications.
DS2 (O) is now waiting to hear which 'tier' he's in for his Oxford degree ie whether it'll be provisional or marked etc etc but currently can't access his messages from college, poor thing, as his phone's in for repairs. I think I was optimistic to believe that Oxford had sorted out the marking crisis.
Meanwhile, I've has absolutely no response at all from Prof Munir at Cambridge to my email asking questions about the marking strikes, degrees etc. I'm surprised that there's not even been an out of office response at the very least.
It doesn't yet feel quite real that both DS1 and DS2 have now left university and the three years went past incredibly quickly. They're both really going to miss their undergraduate years but are also ready for the next phase of life.